Public advisory on passport

PUBLIC ADVISORY

1. Indian citizens living in India and abroad are advised to apply for urgent re-issuance of their passports in the following cases:-

(i). HANDWRITTEN PASSPORTS

All the Indian Nationals who are still having handwritten passports in their possession are hereby advised to immediately convert them into the machine-readable passport, as according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), handwritten passports are not acceptable any more.

(ii) PASSPORTS VALID FOR LESS THAN SIX MONTHS

Many international travellers may not realise that having an unexpired passport is sometimes not enough to obtain Visas or to enter certain foreign countries. Indian citizens travelling on Passports which may expire in less than six months should renew their passports before any upcoming international travel. It is especially important to check the passports needs of any minor who may be accompanying their parents as passports for minors have a shorter validity period (5 years) than passports for adults (10 years). The universal practice in vogue now is; "Once your passport crosses the nine-year mark, it is time to get new passport".

(iii) EXHAUSTION OF VISA PAGES

Some countries do not accept passports which may have fewer than two pages remaining. Please check your passport to ensure that you have enough visa pages. There is no provision of additional booklets/pages and you will be required to apply reissuance of passport following standard procedures. Frequent travellers may opt for Jumbo Passport containing 64 pages.